General outline I. Overview & Time-line II. Watergate: A criminal definition III. The Fourth Estate: Before, during

General outline I. Overview & Time-line II. Watergate: A criminal definition III. The Fourth Estate: Before, during & after 1. Post-Tet 2. During Watergate 3. Post-Watergate IV. Trajectory chart

Congratulations! Dr. Julie Ferris!

Overview: What Was Watergate? • "Watergate" is a general term used to describe a complex web of political scandals between 1972 and 1974. • The word refers to the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. • In addition to the hotel, the Watergate complex houses many business offices, including the office of the Democratic National Committee was burgled on June 17th, 1972.

"Watergate" is now an all-encompassing term used to refer to: • political burglary • bribery • extortion • wiretapping (phone-tapping) • conspiracy

AND… • obstruction of justice • destruction of evidence • tax fraud • illegal use of the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) • illegal use of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (F.B.I.) • illegal campaign contributions • use of public (taxpayers') money for private purposes • Source: webusers.anet-stl.com/~civil/govlieswatergate.html

Nixon campaigns, 1968

“Nixon on the beach”

I. Time-line 1966 Washington Post hires Bernstein 1971 “ “ Woodward

1972, June 17 (2:30 AM) — Watergate burglars arrested G. Gordon Liddy E. Howard Hunt

Ideological commitment, yes. Moral complications, no.

1972-73 — The Washington Post’s staff dedicates itself to the developing story. Ben Bradlee, Editor Katherine Graham, Publisher

Carl Bernstein, Catherine Graham & Bob Woodward at the Washington Post, ca. 1972

Aug.-Oct. 1972—Woodward & Bernstein break the case with investigative reporting They: • tied burglars to the White House; • implicated former AG John Mitchell as the source of the burglars’ funding; • exposed Nixon’s “dirty tricks” campaign strategy • connected the White House appointments sec’y. directly to the break-in, and • identified Nixon chief-of-staff H.R. Haldeman to payments made from a secret campaign fund. (Streitmatter, p. 207)

1973, August — VP Spiro Agnew faces charges of tax evasion, leading to his resignation.

Pop culture responds

1973, May — AG Elliott Richardson appoints a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. 1973, Oct. — The “Saturday Night Massacre” where Nixon has Robert Bork fire Cox, after Richardson and Dep. AG Wm. Ruckleshaus had resigned to avoid the duty.

1974, June 24 — The 18-minute gap on the office tapes. • The “smoking gun” • Rosemary Wood

1974, August 9 — Nixon resigns

III. The Fourth Estate: Before, during and after 1. Post-Tet (1968) 2.) During Watergate “Deep Throat:” Code name for Woodward & Bernstein’s secret source.

Mainstream opponent of the Post’s e.g.: • Newsweek • AP • UPI • The New York Times • The Washington Star • El Diario de Los Americas.

The interpretive approach to cases like Watergate shows that “the exception highlights the rule.” (Remember James Carey & John Pauley in David Mindich’s article on Douglass.)

3.) Post-Watergate keywords: • Retrenchment • Revisionism

IV. Trajectory chart • From the radical perspective of The Post: • Outsiders/opponents? The mainstream press and the White House • Goal for change? Exposing the president as a criminal • Mainstream press’s ideological base? Preserving the status quo; uninterested in rocking the boat. • Outcome? Nixon resigns; the Fourth Estate returns to “normal,” a less confrontational relationship to gov’t.

General outline I. Overview & Time-line II. Watergate: A criminal definition III. The Fourth Estate: Before, during